CRTC tells Rogers to stop throttling online games

After recently admitting that they may "inadvertently" be throttling the network traffic of online gamers, Rogers Communications Inc. has to answer to the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission.

According to the CRTC policy, any noticeable degradation of time-sensitive Internet traffic requires prior commission approval under Canada's Telecommunications Act. And in a rare display of spinal fortitude, has given Rogers less than 2 weeks to explain what they're going to do about it.

Furthermore, the CRTC points out Rogers' own traffic management policy, which states that online games, such as World of Warcraft, should not be throttled or slowed down.

But in a statement given on Friday, Rogers said that they've already corrected the issue with World of Warcraft, and are "not aware of any problems with any other online games."

Commission staff are apparently not convinced, requesting that Rogers provide a detailed report to the commission once the problem is resolved, demonstrating that the problem has been fixed.

The Canadian Gamers Organization (which filed the initial complaint), is pleased with the regulator's response, but suspects that the issue goes beyond Rogers. Citing reports from members that Shaw and Bell users are also being throttled, they will be asking the CRTC to broaden its investigation.

From the Calgary Herald via Blue's News via Kotaku via Blackwalt.